Almost 150 years ago, three men dressed in female attire were hauled in front of a judge at a court in Salford, with hundreds of locals queuing up to experience and mock the courtroom drama first-hand.
In October 1874, the men - a dancer, a weaver and a jeweller’s apprentice - were all arrested under the Vagrancy Act of 1824 after being caught clutching invitations on the way to a ‘Queen of Camp’ drag ball.
Four years later, in 1880, police rocked up to the Temperance Hall in Hulme after receiving reports that men at a drag ball were dressed extravagantly in women’s attire inside. 38 men were arrested that night. Thankfully, those days are now over and drag is celebrated throughout most of the world - especially so here in Manchester.
